Velvet Insanity
by Lizdacious
Summary: Bella is admitted into Burnley Psychiatric Center where she meets Alice Cullen before being changed into a vampire. A/B.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Don't own any of these characters or the book Twilight. This is my first Twilight fanfiction, I hope you all enjoy it.

_Velvet Insanity_

"No, please don't send me, please don't!" I beg my mother.

She looks right at me, lips pursed, her eyes shining with guilt. "I'm sorry, Bella."

I want to run away. What good would that do though? I just have to deal with this. I feel so defeated. I silently grab my luggage and follow Renée to her car. She opens the trunk for me, and I slide my one suitcase in. I'm really going to an asylum. I really am. It doesn't feel like anything's wrong with me. I know I'm sane. Everyone else around me begs to differ though. I've asked my therapist to tell me what exactly is wrong with me, but he ignores the question every time. I've tried asking my mom and Charlie, but they do the same thing, ignore me. How can they send me here without even telling me why I'm going to a mental institution?

I sigh and climb into the car. Renée is taking me to "only the best asylum" as she puts it. How can any place be better than the other? In my opinion they're all prisons. There's nothing wrong with me, she's sending me to this mental institution just so she doesn't have to take care of me anymore. I guess that's a little harsh, but that's what it _feels_ like. I know she doesn't mean for it to be like this, but I feel like she's abandoning me. Like she doesn't care for me anymore.

I stare out the window, watching the cactuses fly by. The condensation from my breath makes it hard to see. "What state are we going to again?" My voice comes out small and tired.

"Northern California." She says it so calm. I'm going to be miles away from her! How is she okay with this? It's not exactly close to Charlie either…

What is it about my life that gave off the signal that I'm crazy? Insane? A lunatic? Those are all describing words of someone in an asylum, right? What have I done? I look down at my thighs, and know underneath my jeans are scars that were once deep gashes. But that couldn't be enough, no; cutting myself isn't enough to send me far away.

I want to try to ask her again. "Why am I going to this asylum?"

"We've already discussed this honey," she says calmly, "because you need help."

"I need help why? What's wrong with me?" I ask frustrated.

She looks at me sympathetically, "Because you're sick, sweetie."

"If I was sick, shouldn't I be in a hospital?" I'm bitter; I was fine in Phoenix, Arizona. I had a decent life.

"You know as well as I do that you're mentally sick," she sounds a tad annoyed. It's evident she's tired of speaking to me about this.

"Cutting myself isn't enough to send me to this… _prison_." I make sure I pronounce the last word with hatred.

"First of all, it is. Bella-sweetie, don't you realize it's not normal to mutilate yourself? Second of all, there are other things besides that," Renée ends in a tone that means 'end of discussion.' I'm not quite finished yet, though.

"Like what? Just tell me already!" With each answer she avoids my true question. I am getting more and more upset.

My mother stares at the road for a few moments, before looking me in the eye, "If you don't know by now, you never will." She grips the steering wheel a bit tighter, and I can see the whites of her knuckles form.

I give up. No one will ever tell me.

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We finally arrive at Burnley Psychiatric Center. It was multiple buildings, all bright red brick. There was about six of them, the big main one had a sign clearly labeling the office. The grass was practically neon green, and there were trees everywhere. In the far distance I could see tennis courts, basketball courts, and a fenced in field. I notice the barbed wire at the top. _Prison_. Looking even closer, it's not as pretty as my first impression was. The windows have bars, and the building reeks of sadness and pain.

"C'mon honey," my mother grabs my hand pulls me to the office.

"Wait, I forgot my bag," I run back towards the car. Opening the trunk, I quickly grab my luggage and dash back to Renée.

We enter the building, and Renée immediately begins talking to the woman at the front desk. I play with the idea of taking my mom's keys and stealing her car, driving away from here, leaving her helpless.

"…Isabella Swan…" My ears automatically perk at the sound of my name, but I just ignore the rest. I don't want anything to do with this place.

"Bella, I have to go now." My mother is standing in front of me.

I just nod my head. I sense the tears forming in my eyes. If I talk now, I'll look pathetic. Voice cracking and all. She pulls me up out of the chair, and into her arms. Hugging me tightly, she whispers, "You know I love you, right?"

I want to tell her no you don't. If you loved me you would take care of me. If you loved me you wouldn't send me to this prison. If you loved me you wouldn't abandon me. But of course I nod my head, and tell her, "I love you too, Mom."

"Isabella? Follow me," a nurse in all white calls to me. She has long blonde hair, and a tall figure.

"She likes to be called Bella," Renée states before giving me a small pat on the shoulder. I grab my bag and walk towards 'Nurse Ratched.' My mother waves to me, "Bye honey, call me during your talking hours."

I can barely whimper out, "Goodbye."

"Bella, I'm going to lead you to your room, and give you some time to get adjusted and unpack. Then I'll show you around the institution. That sound alright?" She smiles at me, but before I could respond she quickly adds, "By the way, I'm Nurse Terry."

"Thanks Nurse Terry," I mumble out when she stops in front of a door labeled 237.

"This is your room, your roommate isn't back from her morning activity yet."

"Wait, I have a roommate?" I ask suddenly worried. Mom didn't tell me I was going to have to live with someone else. Now this just seems twice as unfair.

"Well, yes, everyone has roommates. I'll be back in about an hour to show you around, Bella." With that, Nurse Terry leaves me to fend for myself.

I open the door and see two beds on either side of the room. Considering I'm in a prison, the room was quite big. Next to both the beds are nightstands. On one nightstand there's a book lying on top. I investigate, my roommate's currently reading _Interview with the Vampire_. Across from the beds, on the wall next to the door were two dressers. I see three pictures on top of my roommate's. I'm feeling pretty nosy today and walk over, grasping the first picture in my hands.

It was of this beautiful girl, only about five-years-old or so, laughing sitting in what looks like to be her father's lap. I touch the next one, and it's just of a boy who's tall and lanky, and pitch-black hair. He's not necessarily attractive, nor ugly. As I grab the last one, I hear a voice behind me that faintly reminds me of wind chimes, "Snooping around already?"

I drop the picture, and swing around. Looking down, there's a gorgeous girl right in front of me. She is radiating good energy though, and I can now tell that she was joking with me, and not seriously angry. "Sorry," I whisper, "Are you my roommate?"

"Why else would I be in this room, silly?" She smiles, and her teeth glimmer under the light.

"I'm Bella," I nervously hold out my hand. She's too pretty to be in this prison.

"Alice," she's still smiling. Brushing past me, she picks up the photo I dropped. I get a faint smell of vanilla and cotton from her, which smells great together. "We're going to be really good friends, I can sense it."

I just can't help but grin at what she said. Alice seems too normal to be in here. "I'm glad you're my roommate," I blurt out. I really am; it's nice to have someone so bubbly. Maybe she can change my view on this hellhole.

She eyes my unpacked luggage, "Want some help?" She asks very eagerly.

I laugh gently, "Excited a bit much, aren't we?" There's nothing inside really. All plain clothes, I'm not that creative of a person with my fashion.

"I love clothes," she states with a great deal of enthusiasm, "I'm really into the fashion scene."

"Then there will be nothing fun to look at. I'm plain."

"That doesn't matter, I'm still intrigued," she steps closer to me, and gestures for me to open it already.

She really is beautiful; her hair is chopped into different directions, nice and short. Alice has piercing green eyes, which goes nice with her dark almost black hair. She has a petite frame. Her nose comes to this perfect point. I find her attractive. My whole body is leaning towards her, begging to be closer.

"You there, Bella?" She pokes me gently on my shoulder.

I come back to reality. Embarrassed I quickly tell her, "Sorry. Let's look at my crappy clothes." My cheeks are still emitting a deep shade of red.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Thank you all for your kind reviews. It encourages me to keep writing :)

"Bella?" I hear a light knock on the door. It must be Nurse Terry. I glance at Alice who was still helping me put away my clothes. I didn't want to leave her just yet. I'm really getting along with her.

"Come in," I answer.

Nurse Terry opens the door, "Ready to finish your tour?" She notices Alice is here, "Oh Alice you came back early."

Alice nods at her, "Nurse Terry, do you think it'd be alright if I showed Bella around?"

Nurse Terry seems to be debating over it. She opens her mouth to say something, but then closes it again. Finally she decides to say, "Alright Alice, but only because you've done so well this week. I want you and Bella to report back to me when you're done."

"Don't worry, I will!" Alice's eyes light up, and there's a humongous grin on her face.

Before Nurse Terry exits the room, she turns to look at me, "I'm glad you're getting along with your roommate," she smiles. "Have fun," she waves goodbye and leaves.

I glance at Alice, she's adjusting her shirt a bit, and then she pulls her pants up a little. Her petite frame really suits her; her top clung to her in all the right places revealing a sexy shape to her body. Alice's green eyes look into mine, "Ready to go?"

I nod my head and follow her out of our room. I really am happy I get to have Alice as my roommate. I was originally scared of having a roommate because I thought that I would get someone psycho. Besides the fact that I'm an only child, and have never shared my room with anyone. This would be a new experience.

"So," Alice begins breaking the silence, "we live in the north ward. The south ward is for boys. And at the end of this hallway," she points in front of us, "is the bathroom on the right. But the more interesting stuff is this way," she leads me in the opposite direction of the bathroom.

I know I should be talking more, but I'm really shy, especially around gorgeous people like Alice. I wonder why she's in here. Maybe she's like me, not really insane but sent here because her parents don't want to take care of her. Or maybe she really is insane and at night she'll try to murder me. No, that's impossible. She's too sweet and bubbly to do that.

"Bella are you listening?" she asks me sweetly, but I can hear a hint of irritation in her voice.

I was about to say yes, but I decide to tell her the truth, "No, I'm sorry. My mind has just been all over the place today."

"I understand," she says sympathetically, "I was practically the same the first day I was here."

"What were you saying?" I ask her politely.

She smirks at me, "If you weren't listening you'll never know." I can tell she's just joking around.

"Awh, come on Alice," I beg her, playing along.

"Hmmm," she pretends to think about it, "alright. We're reaching the dining room area. We have certain hours that we can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you miss the time slot, you miss your meal."

"That's stupid, what about the anorexics?"

"Oh, they live in a different building, with different rules. This building here is for patients without eating disorders," she continues walking away from the dining hall.

"What kind of people normally live here then?" Am I about to find out maybe what's wrong with me?

"People like you and me."

"Well why are you here?" I'm tired of people always avoiding my questions somehow. It's better to just ask straight up.

"All in due time," she smiles at me. Great.

We continue down the long hallway, there's a janitor sweeping up the dust and dirt off the floor. Alice stops to greet him. "Hey Max," she says warmly.

"Hi there Alice," he brightens up instantly, and gently pats her on the head.

There's something off about him. His skin looks paler than normal, and he's exceptionally handsome. I don't normally find guys that attractive, but hell, he is. His thick blonde hair was short and tamed.

"Bella, this is Max," she gestures for me to come closer. "Max, this is my new roommate, Bella."

"Hi there Bella," he smiles, there's something off about it. It frightens me a little.

"Hi," I squeak back.

"How are you doing?" Max asks me politely.

"Fine," I answer quickly, my shy side coming out.

Alice picks up on the awkwardness in my voice. "Max, I'm going to finish showing her around, but I'll catch ya later." She leans in and hugs her, and as he hugs her back I notice he takes in a deep breath. It seems a bit creepy to me, like something a stalker would do.

"Bye, Alice. Bye Bella, it was nice to meet you," he waves at me.

I just nod my head in response, wanting to get as far away from his as possible. I take quick steps to be standing side by side with Alice. "What do you think so far?" Her head is tilted in my direction.

"I like it and I don't," I respond honestly. I like it, because you're a really awesome roommate, but I hate it, because well it's a mental institution.

"That's how I felt in the beginning as well," I see a sad smile appear on her face, and her eyebrows slowly knit together. Something's wrong.

"Alice, are you okay?" my voice is earnest.

"Yeah," a smile is instantly plastered on her face, and any sign of sadness vanished. "Come on, I'll show you the art and music room."

I love art; it was one thing I actually wasn't too bad at. I'm not good at sports; I'm not good at math; I'm not good at English, so art is the only field I could excel in. I'm excited to see how big of a room it is, and how many different mediums it would contain.

"This is it," Alice gestures to a room that was indeed large. It has two doors that are open. Inside I see a few patients, one is painting, and the other three were using colored pencils.

Further back I saw an acoustic guitar, a piano, and some drums. I guess not many people play the music here, otherwise there'd be more items. "I love art," I say just to make conversation.

"Well we should come down here sometime and make something together," she looks so hopeful, how can I not say yes? I wouldn't want to burst her bubble, ever. She just seems so happy all the time and sweet. I wouldn't want to do anything that would hurt here.

"I would love to Alice. What else is here?" I ask out of curiosity.

"There's a tennis court and basketball court outside, but we can't go out unless there's a nurse with us. Not to mention you need to have a certain amount of points to get outside privileges. It's stupid," she scoffs.

"What are all those other buildings then?" I wonder since there were about five others.

"Oh, one is the morgue, and the other is the rehabilitation building. I already told you about the anorexic one. I don't really know what the other two are," she says morgue so lightly, like it's no big deal. But I'm freaking out. A morgue? People die here? They die in this asylum? What a sad life to have it end here. I have to get out of here, before I'm one of the people in the morgue.

"Bella, calm down," she must've noticed I was hyperventilating. "What's wrong?"

"You said morgue so calmly," I say softly.

"Bella, it's just natural," she laughs gently. "C'mon let's get back to the room, and hang out for a bit before dinner. After dinner we have to go to group therapy."

"Okay." I follow her back to our room. I'm lucky she was with me, otherwise I would've probably gotten so lost. Just another thing I don't have, a good sense of direction. She's so easy to get along with. I agree with what she said in the beginning '_We're going to be really good friends, I can sense it._' I sense it too now.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews again. I am enjoying writing this story, I hope you all enjoy reading it just as much. **

It's the ending of the day; Alice and I are getting ready for bed. Dinner was pretty good I ate very little though. I'm still nervous about this place, so I couldn't stomach much. Afterwards we went to group therapy, and it was as lame as I expected it to be. Embarrassingly Nurse Terry made me speak in front of everyone about my history. She asked me why I think I'm here, and that had to be the hardest question I've ever had to answer. I didn't even know the answer. I just told her it was because my mom wanted to abandon me, and my dad didn't even want to take care of me either. I remember Alice looking straight at me, sympathy pouring from her.

"Hey Bella, lights are off in about five minutes, you should go brush your teeth while you still can." I glance at her, and I feel myself stop breathing. She's wearing pajama bottoms and a tank top that ends a little too short, revealing a bit of her stomach. My heart starts racing.

"Thank you, Alice," I say with the last bit of breath. I run out quickly to the bathroom.

I'm embarrassed at myself for finding her so attractive. I don't want her to know. I mean she's my roommate, imagine how awkward that would be? Having to sleep with someone who wants to date you in the same room. If it were me, I'd be worried about them trying to kiss me while I was sleeping. See if I think that, then she must surely as well, even though I'd never do that. I begin brushing my teeth, trying to not concentrate on Alice. The more I think about her, the more I like her.

The door swings open and startles me. I clutch onto the sink, waiting for the person to enter. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I thought everyone was done in here. I'll wait outside!" It's Max. The creepy janitor. I just nod at him.

I don't like him, and I definitely don't like that Alice hangs out with him. There's something off about him. He's too pale. He's too handsome. I laugh silently at my thoughts; I'm just being judgmental. If Alice likes him, he can't be all that bad. I rinse my mouth, and exit the bathroom.

"Oh it's you Bella," Max smiles, recognition flooding over his face. "Is anyone else in there?"

I shake my head, and head back to my room. Just because Alice likes him, doesn't mean I have to be nice and polite.

Alice is already lying in bed. How can she be ready to fall asleep when it's only ten o'clock? She fidgets a little, and then sits up. "You know, I haven't had a roommate for three months. It feels nice to have someone again," she clasps her hands together.

"I never shared my room with anyone. I've always been an only child. It's different sharing with someone else. Normally I think I would be bothered, but you're so easy to get along with," I tell her the truth.

I suddenly get the urge to ask her why Max is so strange. I hold it back though; I don't want to offend her on my first day here. "What do you want to ask me?"

I stare at her baffled. What?

"Sorry, it just looked like you were debating on asking me something. I'm very intuitive."

"I can't say," I whisper, and sit on my bed.

"Maybe when the time is right, then," she says understandingly.

"Sure," I respond unsure. I don't know if I could ever tell her. She seems so close to him, I don't want to hurt her.

There's a light knock at the door, and it swings open with the night nurse, Nurse Kelly. "Lights out girls," she says cheerfully, and flicks the switch for us.

After she leaves, I realize I haven't changed into my pajamas yet. I'll have to do that in the dark now. I walk towards my dresser, but trip on the edge of my bed. A loud thud practically echoes in the room.

"Bella, are you alright?" Alice asks urgently. She searches the room for me in the dark.

I landed on my knees, and considering this is hard tile below us, I'll probably have bruises. "Fine," I grunt out. The pain is still searing in my knees, and I wait a few seconds before I attempt to get up.

"Let me help you," she grabs my hands, and pulls me up. She's pretty strong for a little chick.

"I'm sorry. I'm so clumsy," I mutter out, if the light were on, she'd be able to see my cheeks with a bright red hue.

"Don't apologize," she laughs angelically, "and yeah, you're a little clumsy." I can sense she's smirking right now.

"Hey," I reply defensively.

"I'm just kidding, Bella. I'll let you get changed in peace now." She walks back to her bed.

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I'm walking with Alice to return our trays from breakfast. We just finished. I'm glued to Alice, I feel too awkward to try and make my own friends. And I have a little crush on her. "You have therapy with Dr. Kovalsky at noon. My therapy session is at the same time, just with a different doctor, so until then we have some free time." Alice is so informative.

"Did you want to go to the art room?" I remember her suggesting we do something together yesterday. Since I love art so much as well, it just seems perfect.

"Yeah, sure," she always seems so happy around me.

We walk towards the art and music room. Along the way, I notice a janitor sweeping, and I feel my entire body tense up. I don't want to stop and talk to Max again. I observe he has brown hair. It's not Max. Alice walks past this janitor, so she's not friends with all of the janitors. Why would I make that assumption? Maybe because I know nothing about her. I want to learn more about her. I want to know everything. If only I wasn't so shy.

"What do you want to make?" Alice is bouncing up and down in excitement. I laugh giddily for the first time since I've been here. She's so cute.

"Uhm," I think, "let's see when we get there." My thoughts go back to Max. I remember his smile and how strange it looked. I decide to finally ask Alice about him, without being too forward on how creepy he is. "How do you know Max?" as soon as I say it, I realize that it was a stupid question.

I see a flicker of pain cross over her eyes. "He works here, silly," she laughs bubbly.

I become too embarrassed to ask her anything else. In the art room, there's one other patient here, but he keeps to himself working on a painting. "Let's paint something together," I decide.

"Yeah!" she replies enthusiastically. Alice runs around the room grabbing the materials we'd need. I try to memorize where she got everything from, so I can come back on my own. "What do you want to paint?"

"Uh, anything, Let's make it abstract."

I take the paintbrush she held out for me. I pour out a little bit of each of the acrylic paints onto a palette. I carefully dab it into the red one and mix it with orange. Suddenly I feel wetness on my cheek. I whip my head around and see Alice holding a paintbrush with blue on it. After touching my face, I see blue on my fingertips. Alice bursts out laughing.

"Hey," I try to be mad, but I can't. She's too adorable, so I just laugh with her. I move my paintbrush and quickly get a part of her arm. She wipes her arm against the cheap imitation canvas.

I drag my fingertips across the canvas as well. This would be a different kind of abstract painting.

We continue with this back and forth painting on each other, then rubbing the rest onto the canvas. The outcome of the painting is amazing. "Wow, it looks great," I state happily. I look at Alice, and can't help but laugh. She's covered in paint all over her body, as I'm sure I look like as well.

"No laughing," she says, but gives up and laughs with me.

"We're going to have to shower before our therapy, huh?"

She glances at the clock, "Actually, we have no time. It's eleven-fifty now! Hold on, I'll get Nurse Terry to take you to Dr. Kovalsky's office, because I have my own therapy session to go to." Alice rushes outside searching frantically for the nurse.

I pick up the canvas to take with me. I feel like someone might steal it, and I would like to keep it for memories. Nurse Terry waves for me to come to her, and I oblige. Alice already disappeared. A wave of sadness comes over me, she didn't even say goodbye. She just left.


End file.
